Share this story

»Play VideoPolice arrested 26-year-old Marquise Rashad Harris-Hill after they say he admitted to whipping his girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter with a belt.

FAIRVIEW, Ore. - The punishment did not fit the crime, at least not for the 5-year-old girl.

Police say a child, 5, was brutally beaten and forced to smoke marijuana inside her mother's apartment in Fairview.

The child told detectives it was her punishment: She didn't brush her teeth.

Officers responded to the second-floor apartment on May 8 when a neighbor called with an anonymous tip after hearing possible sounds of a child getting beaten.

Once inside, police found the girl standing in the corner, wearing only panties. She had a shaved head, was sobbing, and had bruises and welts covering her body, according to court documents filed Monday.

The little girl was placed in foster care.

Fairview police arrested her mother's boyfriend, Marquise Rashad Harris-Hill, 26, when they say he admitted to whipping the girl with a belt.

Detectives say he is not the child's biological father.

It was a "heavy belt with metal protrusions," according to court documents.

The child claims her mother told Harris-Hill to whip her as a punishment for not brushing her teeth.

The girl's mother was not arrested.

KATU went to her apartment at King's Garden on Tuesday to ask for her side of the story.

A reporter called out to her as she was walking up the steps into her apartment, although she did not respond and did not answer her door a few moments later.

Her boyfriend, Harris-Hill, remains in the Multnomah County Jail facing five counts of assault, criminal mistreatment and forcing a minor to take marijuana.